IMDb RATING
6.4/10
2.3K
YOUR RATING
A kaleidoscopic and humanistic view of the Black community in Hale County, Alabama.A kaleidoscopic and humanistic view of the Black community in Hale County, Alabama.A kaleidoscopic and humanistic view of the Black community in Hale County, Alabama.
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- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 16 wins & 21 nominations total
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I saw that this documentary received very high praise from pro critics, but it's not my cup of tea. From what I read, the young director RaMell Ross , making his feature debut, shot 1300 hours of footage over 5 years and was looking more in this presentation to be poetic and lyrical rather than offer a cohesive storyline.
As Ross depicts day-to-day life in a small predominately African-American town in Alabama, there are certainly some striking images here One segment of the movie is just completely sad and shocking. But the film was just too disjointed and fragmented to appeal to me on the whole.
As Ross depicts day-to-day life in a small predominately African-American town in Alabama, there are certainly some striking images here One segment of the movie is just completely sad and shocking. But the film was just too disjointed and fragmented to appeal to me on the whole.
This is the very definition of a "fly-on-the-wall/slice of life" doc. It's probably not your walls or your pizza, though. It feels like photography come to life. It is a pure artistic statement in that arena, no question. Whether or not these pictures are also telling a compelling story isn't quite as clear. Five minutes of a toddler going back and forth don't make sense until you think about it in the context of what happens to that toddler's infant sibling later on. Intermittently, we are interrupted by black title cards with white text, the most striking of which reads: "What happens when all the cotton is picked?" That this isn't so much of a question, perhaps, is maybe what the story is all about. In the 1990 power ballad by Extreme, "More Than Words," Gary Cherone sings, "More than words is all you have to do to make it real." You don't need to speak to tell a story. You don't have to do anything at all. As Steven Tyler of Aerosmith once sand, "Just Press Play" (on the camera).
This film is beautifully shot, and there are some stunning images in it, but I would not call it a documentary. There is barely a noticeable narrative and for me a documentary has to have a narrative otherwise you could call Andy Warhol's Empire a documentary. It's the kind of film you could imagine passing in a gallery exhibition, watching for five minutes, and walking on. In that respect I can't really recommend it but I thought a 6/10 was fair as it succeeds in what it sets out to do and my lack of enjoyment of it was based partially on expectations.
This is a curious movie with practically no acting performers but showing with realist scenes, images and talks the real life of a black community in Alabama Hale County. It's vivid and lively and we can see how that people lives and talks and fights and suffers drama or enjoy something like playing basketball for instance. It is a pleasant movie to watch since it disposes us well with these people's lives like if we were living with them indeed. It's seldom that we see a movie of this kind looking like a documentary with no plot or special action. It disposes us well and it is very well directed and edited.
Undeniably well made, this documentary focuses on the residents of this small town and shows their lives. However, i did eventually lose interest in it as there really isnt much forward momentum in the storytelling.
Did you know
- TriviaThe film was based on Ross' s moving to Alabama in 2009 to live with the families he would be filming, and to almost a decade of observations among their community.( in contrast, when James Agee and Walker Evans went to Alabama in 1936 to document the poverty of the Depression there, they only spent three weeks .)
- Quotes
Quincy Bryant: I'm not going to give up on nothing. I don't have a backup plan. I have goals that I want to reach. You know, meet them. You know, before I leave this Earth. I want to fulfill all my goals, and my dreams, and everything. Music, football, or basketball. Either one of the sports, though. But then, you know, getting my education finished, and then up there. I'm gonna make my parent real proud.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Oscars (2019)
- How long is Hale County This Morning, This Evening?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Округ Хейл вранці і ввечері
- Filming locations
- Hale County, Alabama, USA(principal photography)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $112,282
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $8,640
- Sep 16, 2018
- Gross worldwide
- $112,282
- Runtime1 hour 16 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 16 : 9
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By what name was Hale County This Morning, This Evening (2018) officially released in India in English?
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